Mamuthones may have started as solo project of Alessio Gastaldello, founder and ex drummer of Jennifer Gentle (Italy’s psych pop mavericks signed to Sub Pop Records) but soon turned into something like a real band.

After leaving Jennifer Gentle in 2007, Alessio switched from drums to air-organ and voice to create his own kind of deep psychedelia. A ritual, esoteric atmosphere soaked his first two albums – The First Born (a collaborative effort with Fabio Orsi) and Sator, his proper first solo LP. To support these releases, Alessio was joined on stage by Marco Fasolo (Jennifer Gentle’s mastermind) on guitar and seasoned drummer Maurizio Boldrin – an almost 70-year old musician who has played since the early Sixties in countless beat and prog groups including Pino Donaggio’s band (the same Pino Donaggio who wrote You don’t have to say you love me and soundtracked multiple Brian De Palma, Nicholas Roeg and Joe Dante movies).

After a handful of shows, the trio released in 2011 a self-titled album for Italian label Boring Machines. The band were heralded as prime movers of the so-called Italian Occult Psychedelia scene and the album itself got rave reviews on most music magazines and websites, even getting a 4-star review in The Times. Around the same time, Mamuthones opened the Italian tour of Hallogallo (the project comprising Neu! leader Michael Rother and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley) and played their first London shows.

When Marco Fasolo went back to his Jennifer Gentle duties, Alessio recruited Matteo Polato (guitar) and Francesco Lovison (synth), both previously with Italian band Slumberwood. Alessio started immediately working on new material and the results were released in early 2015 as a 4-track side of a split album for the Collisions series by British label Rocket Recordings (Goat, Gnod, Josefin Ohrn, Julie’s Haircut, Teeth of the Sea, etc). The EP signaled a dramatic change in their sound, now a concoction of the dark alchemy of early Can, the sci-fi swagger of Chrome and the magpie spirit of Eno and Byrne’s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts.

Soon after the release, Maurizio Boldrin split amicably and was replaced by Andrea Davì, a young drummer with a keen interest in jazz and Afrobeat. In September 2015 Mamuthones guested at the Liverpool Psychedelic Festival, while Rocket Recordings was releasing a new 12” limited edition titled Symphony For The Devil, featuring a kosmische-disco inflected cover of the Rolling Stones classic and an unreleased song.

With the new line-up alive and kicking, Mamuthones started working on a new album that will be released again by Rocket Recordings on February 23 2018 under the title Fear On The Corner.